Music sector calls for choirs to be eligible for Orchestra Tax Relief

Almost 40 organisations, choirs and individuals within the UK music sector including the Musicians’ Union (MU), ISM and Making Music have launched a campaign calling on the government to add ‘voice’ to the list of instruments eligible for Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR).

The news follows the announcement in March that the higher rate of OTR brought in during the pandemic would be made permanent. The temporary 50% uplifted OTR rate which commenced in October 2021 has been a marked success for orchestras, and also highlighted that choirs, both professional and leisure-time, need this support.

MU general secretary Naomi Pohl said: 'The recent threat to the BBC Singers highlighted the precarity of the UK’s choral sector. However, the response from choirs around the country also demonstrated what a rich and diverse community of choral singers we have. They are deserving of Treasury support and could do so much more with better resources. There is no question that they deliver for UK people as well as being a crucial part of the musical ecosystem.'

Making Music has pointed out that choirs create work for around 30,000 choir leaders, composers and singers every year, with potential for more as well a supporting participants’ physical and mental well-being.

Making Music president Debbie Wiseman OBE said: 'Extending Orchestra Tax Relief to include the voice as an eligible instrument, thus allowing choirs to access the same benefits as orchestras, would be felt right across the music sector; hugely valuable not only to choirs, but also to the numerous orchestras and ensembles that they perform alongside and collaborate with on a regular basis. The voice is an instrument – possibly the most expressive instrument of all – and should be treated the same as all other parts of the orchestra.'

The campaign is also supported by:

• Association of British Orchestras
• UK Music
• Musicians’ Union
• Independent Society of Musicians
• Making Music (UK association for leisure-time music) 
• Association of British Choral Directors
• English Folk Dance and Song Society
• Music Mark
• Association of Teachers of Singing 
• MD Brunch
• Sing for Pleasure
• The British Association of Barbershop Singers
• Welsh Association of Male Voice Choirs
• Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers
• National Association of Choirs 
• Ex Cathedra
• The Sixteen
• Tenebrae
• Echo Choir
• Three Choirs Festival
• National Youth Choir
• Sing Up
• Young Voices
• London Youth Choirs
• The Voices Foundation
• The Really Big Chorus
• Peterborough Sings!
• Choir with No Name
• Festival of Voice, St George’s Bristol
• Voces8 Foundation
• Music in the Round
• Classical Sheffield  
• The Rodolfus Foundation
• The Sing Space   
• Debbie Wiseman OBE, composer, president, Making Music  
• Simon Halsey, choral conductor
• Paul Spicer, choral conductor, composer 
• William Bruce, artistic director Choral Partnerships, St Paul’s Cathedral